New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg - a political independent who has played a prominent role in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy - has delivered a big boost to President Barack Obama by endorsing him for re-election.

Bloomberg, a Democrat who became a Republican to run for Big Apple mayor in 2001 and ran as an Independent for re-election in 2009, said that Sandy had helped reshape his thinking about the presidential campaign.

He had been pointedly critical of both Obama and Romney, saying that both men had failed to address properly the problems afflicting the nation.

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Support: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a political independent,has delivered a big boost to President Barack Obama by endorsing him for re-election. The pair are pictured together in 2008

Backer: Bloomberg said that Superstorm Sandy had helped reshape his thinking about the presidential campaign. He is pictured viewing damage in the Breezy Point area of Queens in New York

But he said in recent days he had decided that Obama was the best candidate to tackle climate change, which the mayor cited as a contributory factor to the violent storm that took the lives of at least 38 New Yorkers and brought carnage costing billions of dollars.

‘The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast - in lost lives, lost homes and lost business - brought the stakes of next Tuesday’s presidential election into sharp relief,’ he wrote in an article for his own website ‘Bloomberg View’.

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‘Our climate is changing. And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it may be - given the devastation it is wreaking - should be enough to compel all elected leaders to take immediate action.’

The timing of the endorsement is unexpected because Bloomberg this week publicly called on Obama to resist visiting New York this week because the city was too busy dealing with the disaster.

Comfort: A recent poll found that 80 per cent of voters viewed Obama's actions favourably following the storm. He is pictured embracing Donna Vanzant during a tour of a neighborhood effected by Superstorm Sandy

At work: Michael Bloomberg is pictured updating New Yorkers on the city's response to Hurricane Sandy

But his backing is the latest indication that Hurricane Sandy could be a big factor in Tuesday’s election.

Obama has already used it to burnish his bipartisan credentials and a Washington Post/ABC poll found that 80 per cent of voters viewed his actions favourably.

Republicans dismissed the endorsement saying that Bloomberg, as the epitome of the monied east coast elite, would hardly sway voters in the mid-West battleground states.

But there is little doubt that the Romney campaign would dearly have loved to have had the New York mayor’s backing.

Obama said in a statement: ‘I am honoured to have Mayor Bloomberg's endorsement. I deeply respect him for his leadership in business, philanthropy and government, and appreciate the extraordinary job he's doing right now, leading New York City through these difficult days.

Disappointed: There is little doubt that the Romney campaign would have loved to have had the New York mayor's backing. Mitt Romney is pictured at a campaigning event

Friendly: Obama, left, is pictured having breakfast with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, right, in 2007

‘While we may not agree on every issue, Mayor Bloomberg and I agree on the most important issues of our time - that the key to a strong economy is investing in the skills and education of our people, that immigration reform is essential to an open and dynamic democracy, and that climate change is a threat to our children's future, and we owe it to them to do something about it.

‘Just as importantly, we agree that whether we are Democrats, Republicans, or independents, there is only one way to solve these challenges and move forward as a nation - together.

‘I look forward to thanking him in person - but for now, he has my continued commitment that this country will stand by New York in its time of need.

'And New Yorkers have my word that we will recover, we will rebuild, and we will come back stronger.’